Twenty-Eight and a Half Wishes (25 page)

“Why didn’t you tell me?”

“I tried. You wouldn’t listen.”

I suddenly felt stupid. “Joe, I’m so sorry. I thought…” I looked away in embarrassment.

“Hey,” he put his fingers under my chin and turned my face to his. “I don’t blame you. It looked bad and you didn’t know me very well. That’s how I knew you really liked me though. You knew about Hilary, yet you were still interested in me.”

“So why can’t you go to the police?”

The blinds of honesty closed in his eyes. They looked cold in contrast. “I can’t answer that.
Tonight
.” He stressed. “If you give me until next week, I think I can tell you then.”

“And you won’t help me with number fifteen until you can tell me?”

He nodded. “I want you to know everything first, so you don't think I tried to trick you.”

The
next week, I think
began to sink in. “Wait a minute,” I turned my head to the side, scrutinizing him. “You keep telling me
Monday
, but it might actually be later.”

“What difference does a few days make? You’ve waited this long, what’s your hurry?”

“Maybe I’m tired of waiting.”

“What happens in three days?”

“Why won’t you go to the police?”

We reached a stalemate, and Joe wasn’t pleased. He just lost his upper hand. But instead of getting angry, he sighed. “Let's eat.”

We sat down, the mood heavy around us. It made me sad and depressed. This wasn’t how I wanted to spend my time with him. He was hiding things from me, but I didn’t want to spend the two days I had left figuring it out. Since he was hung up on my insistence that Sunday was the day everything had to be done, maybe I should just pretend it didn’t exist.

“This is good. I’ve never had Chinese food before.”

Joe’s mouth fell open in shock. “What? If I had known, I would have ordered. How did you know what to get?”

He laughed when I told him my reasoning. “You need to go to a Chinese buffet. You can try all kinds of different things on a buffet and then you’ll know what you like next time you order.”

“Maybe we could go next week,” I said, trying my new tactic.

The merriment in his eyes fell away. “I thought the world was going to end on Sunday.”

I shrugged. “Maybe you’ve convinced me it won’t. So what do you say? Wanna go with me?”

I couldn't help noticing he wouldn’t look me in the eye when he spoke with a chipperness I wasn’t used to hearing him use. “Yeah, sure.”

That seemed odd. Maybe he and Hilary really weren’t over, but it didn’t matter if they were or not. I only needed him for two more days. Facing death made me shameless.

Joe tried to restore our lighthearted mood and demonstrated how to use the thin wooden chopsticks in the bag. He showed me how to hold them like a pencil and pinch the ends together, then had me try. We held our chopsticks in the air, pinching at nothing in the air. Joe was pretty adept with chopsticks. I just made a mess.

I laughed. “Maybe if I can master this, I can put this in the number twenty-nine spot.”

“Oh, yeah. Get your list and let’s go through it.”

“Why do you want to help me?” Even though I vowed not to ask questions, this one made me curious.

“Don’t take this the wrong way,” he looked at me, cringing a bit. “but I’ve never met anyone who has had so few life experiences. I like watching you live ’ em.” He smiled. “Plus, it sounds fun.”

I retrieved the list and set it on the table between us. It looked more battered than the last time he’d seen it.

“I see you’ve checked off more things.”

“Yeah, and a few more things today.” I picked up a pen off the table. “Today was
dance
…” I checked it off.

His eyes twinkled. “You danced?”

“Yeah, in the Henryetta splash park.” Last week I would have been embarrassed to admit it. Today I was proud.

He chuckled. “I sure would have liked to have seen that.”

“Dress like a princess…”
Check
.

“Why am I missing out on all these? Was this while you were dancing in the Henryetta splash park? What were you wearing?”

“No, it was
not
.” I laughed. “It was later. My niece Ashley put a tiara on me and enough makeup to help me establish a new career as a prostitute.”

“I might like to have a say in your career choice.” His voice was low in my ear.

If I had any hope of crossing off fifteen, I would have let him go on. Instead, I gave him a playful shove. “We have work to do. Focus.”

“Learn to knit.”
Check
. I waited for him to say something. When he didn’t I turned to him. “No comment?”

He raised his eyebrow in an apologetic gesture. “Knitting doesn’t do anything for me. Sorry.”

I laughed. “What if I said I was knitting you a scarf?”

“Are you?” The excitement in his voice surprised me.

“I could be…” I gave him a wicked look. “For a price.”

“Monday. Moving on.”

“Picnic in the park.”
Check
.

“You really never went on a picnic in the park before?” He asked softly, sadness creeping into his voice.

“No, but you know, it’s okay. I did today.”

“How could you not experience all these normal things?”

I knew what he meant, but his words stung. Normal. Just a reminder that I wasn’t. “Momma was strict. She didn't believe in having fun; picnics were frivolous things. Gardners did not do frivolous things.”

He took my hand in his, slowly stroking his fingers along the back and up to my wrist. “Your mother sounds like she was a hard woman to live with.” His other hand moved up to my hair as he looked into my face. “You’ve had a lot of pain in your life. I’m sorry.”

My vision got blurry from tears. I didn’t want to cry with Joe. I looked down at the list. “Oh,” I said, trying to sound cheerful. “I forgot one.”

Joe moved the hand in my hair down to my back, holding me in an embrace like I had seen Mike do with Violet.

“Wear a lacy bra and panties.”
Check
.

Joe started to cough and then laugh.

“Why is that funny?” I turned to face him, ready to pounce on him for making fun of me.

His eyes grew dark. “Trust me, there’s nothin’
funny
about what you just said. You just caught me off guard.” His arm around my back pulled me closer to him, so my shoulder fit into his chest, his hand pressed against my arm. “Listen Rose, I know you’re very inexperienced, and I know that you’re not used to talkin’ about things like this, so I feel I would be remiss if I didn’t warn you that you can’t just talk about these kinds of things with guys.”

“But I’m talkin’ to you about it.”

“Well…I’m different. A lot of guys would take advantage of the situation. You're too trustin’. I don’t want you to get hurt.”

“Why are you different than other guys? Do you not want to,
you know
, with me?” I still couldn’t bring myself to say it. “It’s okay if you don’t want me, just tell me.” If he didn’t want to, it would hurt, but I’d rather know now.

Joe groaned, long and deep, and his arm tightened around me. “You have no idea how much I want you. But I can’t yet, I just can’t and you don’t know how hard it is.” In fact,” he turned my head to look at him, his eyes burning with desire. “All I can think about at this moment is the bra and panties you’re wearing under your clothes. What do they look like? What color are they? What do you look like in them? I think about how I can take your clothes off so I can see.”

“Lavender,” I whispered. “They’re lavender.”

He groaned again and kissed me, smashing my body against his. I was at an odd angle, and felt awkward but he soon made me forget. His lips claimed mine while his hands slid up my back, under my shirt. I wrapped my arms around him, fearful he would stop, but Joe showed no intention of stopping.

He pulled me out of my chair so I sat on his lap, how he managed it, I had no idea. There were only so many things I could concentrate on at a time. I sat across his legs, his arm around my back the other hand working on the buttons of my blouse, his mouth driving me mad. Who said men couldn’t multitask? Joe seemed to be very good at it.

He moved his hand from my back and pulled his lips away from mine. I started to protest but saw him gazing at the front of my shirt which now gaped open, revealing my bra. His hands moved to my shoulders, slowly slipping my blouse down my arms. It fell to the floor behind me.

I knew I should be embarrassed, but I couldn’t help feeling empowered, that I was the one who made him gape like that. I felt sexy. And alive.

Joe’s hands moved to my waist and slowly up my sides, teasing me with anticipation. Then his eyes searched mine, his full of longing and regret. “I can’t stop myself any more, Rose. You’re the only one who can stop me now.”

His mouth moved to mine, a hand on my breast, slipping inside my bra. I gasped in surprise, amazement and need. I never knew I could feel like this. His mouth followed behind his hand, astounding me even more.

I clung to him, silently pleading for more even though it felt like a greedy request, but he must have understood. The next thing I knew, he carried me to my room.

He dropped my legs to the floor, and we stood next to my bed. I turned to face him, my almost bare chest against his shirt. I wanted to feel the skin of his chest against mine. I reached for the bottom of his shirt. His hands joined mine and we lifted it off together, then he tossed it on the floor. He found the button of my skirt, undoing it and then the zipper. It fell, puddling at my feet. I absently kicked it to the side and looked up at him, wondering what happened next.

“God, you’re beautiful,” he murmured running his hands up and down my back as he studied my front. His hands stopped at the clasp of my bra on my back. “It’s not too late to stop, Rose. You only have to tell me no and I’ll stop immediately.”

“Why would I want you to stop?”

His mouth was on mine again, my bra soon gone and his mouth moved down to my breasts until I moaned. I was almost embarrassed but an overwhelming need overshadowed shame.

“Oh Joe, please…”

“What do you want, Rose? Do you want me to stop?”

“No!” I nearly shouted. “Don’t stop!” But I didn’t know what I needed either. What I felt was primal and instinctual. I had no idea
what
I needed, I only knew I needed it or I would die.

If all my senses hadn’t been thoroughly occupied at the moment, I would have laughed at the irony of it. Maybe that’s how I died on Sunday, from lack of sex.

Somewhere in that thought process, Joe moved us to the bed, and shed his jeans. I made a mental note to compliment him later on his multitasking. His skills were quite impressive. He wore a pair of boxers and lay on his side next to me. My view of him was somewhat obscured by his angle, frustrating me. I wanted to see more.

His mouth and hands made me forget.

His hand slid down into my panties and I was sure I was going to die tonight, my vision got the date wrong, but I didn’t care. I couldn’t think of any better way to go. I even heard bells. Maybe they were the bells on Saint Peter’s gate.

I came to my senses the moment Joe’s body was gone, like in the
The Time Traveler’s Wife
. Maybe that was Joe’s big secret. Maybe he time-traveled.

But Joe was still in the room, on the floor, digging his ringing cell phone out of the pocket of his jeans. He looked at the number. “Shit!” he said before he answered. “Yeah.”

His brows furrowed as he listened.

“Yeah,” He said and then he hung up.

I heard guys weren’t big on talking on the phone, but that call was ridiculous.

“I’ve gotta go.” He sat on the edge of the bed and scrambled to put his jeans back on. Then he stuffed his feet into his still-tied shoes.

“What?
Now
?”

He reached over and pulled my head to his, giving me a quick kiss. “You have no idea how badly I want to finish this, but I have to go.”

“Will you come back?” I couldn’t have gotten this close to stop now.

“I don't know how long this will take. I’ll call you tomorrow. We’ll work on your list tomorrow night.”

He grabbed his shirt off the floor and pulled it over his head as he walked out of the room.

I threw on the first thing I could find, a t-shirt that didn’t cover my bottom. My panties, amazingly enough, were still on my body. I ran after him.

“ Joe, wait!” I stood in the kitchen doorway, watching him climb into his car. I didn’t care who saw me. “Where are you goin’?”

“Work.”

“At nine o’clock at
night
?”

He was already in the car, but got out and stood next to the door. His face changed. He wasn’t my Joe anymore. If I had run into this Joe at the bar in Jaspers I would have run home. “Don’t ask me questions, Rose. If you’re smart, you’ll stay out of this. Now go back inside.” The last part was a direct order. One he expected me to obey.

I didn't tell him to stop bossing me around because for one thing, his car had already left, and for another, I was too scared. For the first time since I met Joe, I was honest to goodness scared of him.

Chapter Eighteen